1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a measuring system for the muscle activity of a living or vital organism, and particularly to a measuring system for the muscle activity of such as masticatory muscles, which can measure and analyze the change with time in the muscle activity or movement of the masticatory muscles of a human being to determine various set points of the measuring system for the muscle activity, and to a measuring system for the muscle activity of such as masticatory muscles, by which even ordinary people can easily and reliably measure and evaluate the activity or movement of muscles such as masticatory muscles on the basis of the reference value set, on the basis of measurement results of the muscle activity, by a specialist such as a physician or a dentist, without any special training or skill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Due to the recent rise in the general standard of living, the dietary habits of nations enjoying such a rise have changed and there is a strong tendency that children prefer soft foods and dislike solid ones. For this reason, the development of the masticatory muscles of children has become very poor and various problems due to the insufficient or defective development of the masticatory muscles are indicated.
If the masticatory muscles of children are insufficiently or defectively developed because they like to eat only soft foods, a vicious circle is easily introduced that further causes them to dislike solid foods. An extreme case was reported in which they could finally take only liquid foods.
Apart from such an extreme case, the number of children is increasing who have malocclusion of their maxillary and mandibular teeth, and thus have poorly aligned teeth. In addition, even if such children receive orthodontics, it is often the result that the occlusal condition of the maxillary and mandibular teeth is not maintained and the original irregular teeth alignment is restored again because of the defective development of the masticatory muscles.
Moreover, if one has defectively developed masticatory muscles, the development of the jaw bones is also retarded, and not only are troubles caused in the jaw joint but also such a person cannot strongly occlude his masticatory muscles to close his mouth at times normal to do so and as a result, he will always have open his mouth, or slobber in a worse case.
In addition, since it is thought that biting an object has a deep relationship with the development of the human brain, that the use of masticatory muscles increases the .lambda.-wave of the brain waves by which the ability to concentrate is increased, the appropriate use and training of masticatory muscles are also desirable for the development of intelligence of children.
Conventionally, measuring the activity of vital muscles such as masticatory muscles with an electromyograph has been performed. In this case, usually the output waveform of the electromyograph obtained by setting electrodes on the vital muscles of a subject with the result displayed on an oscilloscope and/or recorded on an appropriate medium. A specialist such as a physician or a dentist observes the measurement result and determines the activity state of the masticatory muscles, and provides appropriate instructions or occlusion to the subject.
The above described prior art had the following problems. That is, to facilitate the development of masticatory muscles, for instance, it is required to continuously hold a strong occlusion state for a certain time in the training and to continue said training for a long period of time. There was a problem in that it was difficult to continue the training and the desired result of the training was not readily obtained, because the training could be provided only under the direction of a specialist. There are also similar problems for the other kinds of muscles.
Accordingly, development is desired of a system for measuring the muscle activity of muscles such as masticatory muscles which can simply be used at home without requiring an attendance of the specialist and which also allows a patient to easily recognize the training effect, and/or of equipment which allows the setting of various measuring devices therefor to properly and easily be performed depending on a patient.
In order to solve the above problems, the present inventors have proposed a system for measuring a vital muscle activity, which can easily measure and analyze the degrees of a vital activity as, for instance, the occlusal strength of the masticatory muscles and the duration thereof as shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 07/795,428.
The problems mentioned above were considerably solved by the above proposal, but it is still desired that such a system make the collection of data on a patient or subject easier, simpler and more accurate. In addition, the system should be more conveniently usable by the patient or subject, allow the muscle activity status to easily be visually recognized, and give appropriate advices or comments as needed.